Mechanical behavior of Class I cavities restored by different material combinations under loading and polymerization shrinkage stress. A 3D-FEA study.

Purpose: To examine the influence of different bulk and block composite and flowable and glass-ionomer material combinations in a multi-layer technique and in a unique technique, in deep Class I dental restorations.

Methods: 3D CAD of the sound tooth were built-up from a CT scan dataset using reverse engineering techniques. Four restored tooth models with Class I cavity were virtually created from a CAD model of a sound tooth.